Homeless Hare

A construction worker, who Bugs Bunny refers to as Hercules, has shoveled off his rabbit hole.He refuses to put it back.This means war! Homeless Hare from 1950 is a Merrie Melodies cartoon by Chuck Jones.Besides Mel Blanc we hear John T. Smith as a voice artist.This short has a lot of funny, zany stuff.We see Bugs playing with the elevator controls while the worker is inside the elevator.We see Bugs impersonating a building inspector, who orders the worker to make a high brick wall.We also see Bugs being knocked out.At the end we learn that a man's home is his castle.Not necessarily the most classic Bugs Bunny, but still very enjoyable.

I have been a Looney Tunes fan all my life, and I love Homeless Hare. It does have a simple premise and the story is simple too. That isn't a bad thing I feel, quite the contrary and even if it were a bad thing so much compensates. The writing is just brilliant, and some of the gags are among my favourites in a Looney Tunes cartoon, especially with the construction worker hovering on a teeter-totter making every effort to keep it balanced. Jones' direction is also superb, and I also loved the vibrancy of the animation and the energy of the music.

Bugs is his usual crafty, likable and witty self while the construction worker is a fantastic foil, more dim-witted than he is in No Parking Hare where he is quite smart and calculating but I liked this side as well. And Mel Blanc and John T. Smith give stellar vocals. Overall, a hugely enjoyable cartoon, that moves at a sharp pace and keeps me satisfied until the end. 10/10 Bethany Cox

Revenge is the story, here, but one can hardly blame Bugs Bunny for extracting it. You see, Bugs was at home minding his own business when a big construction crane came down and dug out Bugs and his home. They were digging to presumably put up another big high-rise in the middle of the city.

Anyway, Bugs pleads with the crane operator to put he and his home back in the ground. The worker - a real tough-looking and tough-sounding thug - talks sweetly agrees - but then dumps Bugs to the ground and pours a pile of bricks on top of him, laughing sadistically as he does it.

Bugs throws a brick back at him with a telegram attached. The message says, "Okay, Hercules, you asked for it. Signed, Bugs Bunny." (The top of the telegram, by the way, reads "Eastern Onion.")

Bugs then makes life miserable for the construction worker, doing everything imaginable, some of it very funny. The poor man, at one point, is hovering on a teeter-totter 100 floors up, taking his clothes off trying to keep the totter balanced!

Chuck Jones's 'Homeless Hare' is a fantastic example of a simple premise made brilliant by great writing and genius direction. Pitting Bugs Bunny against a bullying construction worker, 'Homeless Hare' takes place on the oft-used setting of the building site but there's nothing hackneyed about these antics. Jones infuses Bugs's heckling with exceptional timing, increasing the hilarity of the gags significantly. "Hercules" the construction worker is a great foil for Bugs and there's also a diminutive assistant who steals every scene he's in with his deadpan performance. While Jones will always be best remembered for his more inventive shorts, he always also had a knack for infusing the traditional heckling and chase cartoons with a new energy and inventiveness. 'Homeless Hare' is an excellent example of this. Jones takes what could have been very standard fare in the hands of another director and manages to fashion a mini-classic.

While the story of this Bugs Bunny short isn't one of the best the execution is great. The cartoon opens with Bugs' rabbit hole being dug up my a construction worker, of course this means war and we all know who is going to win. Bugs is soon getting his revenge; dropping items on the worker, bouncing him up and down in an elevator and then disguising himself as the works foreman and ordering the worker to build a tall structure which is topped by a see-saw where a few bricks prevent the worker from falling... as Bugs takes off the bricks the worker removes items of clothing till he is left in his underwear, Bugs shows no mercy and removes the final brick sending him falling. Bugs doesn't get it all his own way, he is stunned when the worker swings a girder into his face, in this stunned state he staggers around the top or the building, each time we thing he is about to fall he steps onto an item being moved by a crane or a conveniently placed rope. This is the most creative part of the cartoon, the second best part is what Bugs does next... I won't say what he does exactly, just that it involves the creative use of a very hot rivet.

Bugs is funny as usual and it was nice to see somebody get the better of him if only for a short while, it is just a shame the antagonist wasn't somebody more interesting. This was a nice addition to the DVD of "White Heat" starring James Cagney; a reminder that once when you went to the movies you got more than one film and a few adverts for your money.